Lok Sabha Elections 2019: UP elects six Muslim MPs, up from one in 2014
In Uttar Pradesh, Muslim candidates put up by the SP-BSP alliance performed much better than others who were given tickets by these parties with the exception of the Congress.
From just one Member of Parliament in 2014, Uttar Pradesh is all set to send at least six – perhaps one of the biggest contingents of Muslims from all over the country - to the Lok Sabha 2019.
In fact, Muslim candidates put up by the SP-BSP alliance performed much better than others who were given tickets by these parties with the exception of the Congress. While the BSP had fielded six, the SP and the Congress had given tickets to four and eight Muslim contestants respectively.
West Bengal had topped the list for electing eight Muslim MPs of the total 23 in 2014 followed by four from Bihar, Kerala and Jammu & Kashmir three each, Assam 2 and Andhra Pradesh and Lakshdweep one each. UP, which has a 19.5 per cent Muslim population, had drawn a blank in 2014 till Kairana Lok Sabha fell vacant because of the death of its sitting BJP MP Hukum Singh in 2017.
The SP got just five seats, three out of which were won by its Muslim nominees and another three won on BSP ticket. The SP had a better strike rate of 75 per cent compared to 50 per cent of the BSP on the performance of its Muslim nominees. Despite fielding 8 – the maximum number of Muslims – the Congress drew a blank but in most seats its candidates cut into the votes of SP-BSP alliance candidates.
For instance, BSP nominee Haji Yaqub from Meerut lost with a slender margin of less than 5,000 votes to Rajendra Aggarwal of the BJP because of Harendra Aggarwal of the Congress, who got more than 34,000 votes. Similarly, Tabassum Begum, of the SP lost to Pradeep Kumar of BJP. The Congress had fielded Harendra Malik from this seat who bagged more than 70,000 votes – close to the margin with which Tabassum lost to Kumar.
Haji Fazlur Rehman of the BSP, however, managed to post a spectacular victory over BJP nominee Raghav Lakhanpal in Saharanpur despite the presence of Imran Masood of the Congress who bagged more than 2 lakh votes. Prominent Muslim losers put up by the Congress included Salman Khursheed from Farrukhabad Salim Iqbal Sherwani from Badaun, Zafar Ali Naqvi from Kheri and Qaiser Jahan from Sitapur all these candidates polled between 5 to 9 per cent of the total votes polled and marred the fortunes of alliance candidates from these seats.
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